Florida Callaloo – Seed

Callaloo is a group of amaranth varieties grown for their leafy greens in the Caribbean. Amaranth is a vastly diverse group that is cultivated for leafy greens in virtually every tropical country, and grown as a grain in some places. Amaranth greens are one of the primary “spinach” plants of the tropics, a quick growing annual with high nutrition. Perhaps they are the “spinach” plant of the tropics, since we can hardly think of another plant grown for greens in so many different cultures. The greens are soft and delicious, with a unique flavor that is quintessentially amaranth. A beautiful advantage of amaranth greens is that they can come into production in as little as thirty days, as entire young plants can be pulled from the garden for eating. In many countries, the plants are grown on extremely short cycles where entire plants are harvested when they are only 12 inches tall. Following the devastating freezes of 2026, we are especially mindful of plants that can give yields quickly after difficult weather damages other crops. The plants are highly heat tolerant and can grow during Florida summers, as well as during cooler times of the year provided there are not frosts.

This particular callaloo is a variety that has been passed around between gardeners in Florida. Given that amaranths are so diverse, it is likely that this population is slightly different than other strains of callaloo. Our prolific gardening neighbors Cissy and Taylor gifted us this variety with high praise of its eating quality and vigor in their garden. They were even able to keep a few plants alive for nearly a year with routine harvesting of shoot tips, never allowing it to reach sexual maturity and die. Our crop was also highly vigorous and gave great tasting greens. Amaranth has some anti-nutritive qualities but is rendered safe with light cooking, so it is much preferred to cook the greens instead of eating raw. The greens and shoot tips can be sautéed, cooked into soups and anything else that one would use spinach for.

Though callaloo is generally robust and problem free, one pest that can hit the plants especially hard is caterpillars. The caterpillars seem to come and go in waves, sometimes leaving the callaloo alone for stretches of time. One thorough spraying with organic BT was highly effective at knocking out a caterpillar infestation in our heavily infested young planting. Heavily predated plants jump back into health surprisingly quickly after BT application. Seeds can be direct sowed into gardens with decent fertility, moisture and sunlight to give callaloo the best opportunity to thrive. Seeds freely volunteer, giving continued harvests in the future in untended corners of the garden.

Callaloo should be considered in the ranks of essential Florida food plants such as Everglades Tomato, Seminole Pumpkin and cowpea.

Amaranthanus spp.

250 seeds